After decades of gardening, I’m still surprised at the explosion of energy that sunshine causes. In spring, of course, when the skies turn from winter grey to brilliant sunny blue, plants seem to just jump out of the ground. (I’m also still amazed at how much plants want to grow!) But putting a plant in the right environment is critical to its health and success. And, let’s define “success” here from the plant’s perspective and not the gardeners’. Success, for a plant, means being able to reproduce. Fortunately for the gardener, this can also be defined as success as bright, big blossoms almo ..read more

For Jack I often begin my day by hand watering the garden. I’ve never had a sprinkler system. I know it would be less work but I sort of like staying in touch with my plants and giving extra water to those who need it most. As I stood watering, Jack walks up with the ever faithful Sadie. “I bet the trees are clapping,” he said. “What a lovely thought,” I responded and then he said, “It’s from the Bible.” I looked at him skeptically. but he looked so smug I decided he was probably right. And right he is. The passage is from Isiah 55 and reads: You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace ..read more

Last week I took some time off from gardening to compare notes with one of my gardening friends. Though we both basically do the same thing (grow plants), our methods are drastically different. She has 18 acres of hills and forests and open spaces in a rural area – all fenced to protect it from the deer. What a treasure! In comparison, I have about 1/3 acre, within the Atlanta city limits. Variegated Solomon’s seal is much more aggressive than its native cousin. She exclaimed over and over how happy she was that after years of gardening in this space, plants had naturalized and spread so she n ..read more

A call to Action In 1973 my parents and I took a canoe / camping trip through the Okefenokee Swamp. It was a memorable trip, not the least of which was that I had my parents all to myself for two days! With four siblings, that rarely happened and I cherished this time with my energetic, smart and curious parents. But of course it was the swamp itself that created the most long lasting memories. I can remember paddling for hours through the dark, still waters. The only sound was the calling of the birds and the soft plunk of the canoe paddles. My father and I fell into an easy rhythm, stroking ..read more

Looking out across the back yard, all I see is green and white. The early spring snowdrops are in their glory, blooming next to tall white narcissus. The white lenten rose, against a grey winter sky, has been blooming for several weeks. It all made me wonder why so many of our winter and early spring flowers are white – and why there is a progression of color in nature from white in winter to pastels in spring, bright reds and yellows in summer and purples in fall. Is there a reason? Of course and the reason for flowers, is (as always) the pollinators. Scientists say that some of the earlies ..read more

A few weeks ago, I had the great privilege of presenting at the Chattahoochee Nature Center at a day long conference celebrating the joys and challenges of gardening both with and for nature. I contributed as an artist / writer / storyteller to raise awareness of the most imperiled and threatened plants that grow in Georgia. There are nineteen Georgia native plants that are threatened with extinction and I cited the reasons why, offered some suggestions for what we can do to help and encouraged the audience to maintain hope for the future of conservation. We must keep hope! There is no alterna ..read more

The bird feeder in the backyard is just outside the window for easy viewing. I find it the best entertainment around, for the ready stream of winged creatures who come to visit and nibble is endlessly fascinating. Photo from allaboutbirds.org Last week, the feeder nearly toppled over when a flock of redwinged blackbirds descended. Starting in early December, these birds travel and go wherever they can to find food. In this case, my back yard. It was pretty impressive. They emptied a large bird feeder in a single afternoon. For a short while, Jack and I kept track of an individual bird who some ..read more

Believe it or not, the Canada goose almost became extinct in the early 20th century. There were so few mating pairs left that a concerted effort was launched to save this majestic bird. Needless to say, the efforts were hugely successful. Today, Canada geese have proliferated to such an extent that they are considered pests in many areas – including my neighborhood. We are fortunate to live near a small pond and a series of parks – a neighborhood enticing to both people and the Canada goose. There are several problems with the geese; they leave droppings everywhere and the droppings often con ..read more

Several years ago, Jack and I had to have an old and diseased oak tree taken down. It was growing about a foot away from the back of the house and had it fallen in any direction it would have done serious damage to the house. Heartbroken at destroying this beautiful tree and depriving dozens of organisms their home, we opted to leave a 5 foot tall stump and have it carved into a chair. The tree chair has been the source of a lot of joy and laughter and has provided a photo op for countless kids. But, like the tree in Shel Silverstein’s classic, The Giving Tree, this tree keeps on giving. Some ..read more

Sadie, my faithful sidekick, and I were walking from the house to my art studio one morning (a distance of about 120 steps). A sudden movement caught my eye and I looked up in time to stare straight into the eyes of a coyote. My backyard is fairly big (especially when I’m using a push mower to cut the “grass’) but our entire city lot is less than 1/3 acre so it’s not THAT big. Coming face to face with a coyote was startling, to say the least. Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Coyote Project. Though I didn’t take the picture, the coyote in our yard looks VERY similar I grabbed Sadie’s leash so she ..read more